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Air pollution may be invisible, but for Jamila Bolton-Gordon, its effects have been impossible to ignore. Growing up in Ladbroke Grove, she watched the health of her family deteriorate across generations – a pattern she came to understand was the predictable consequence of living in one of London's most polluted neighbourhoods.

Today, she is a community champion for , an 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ project that places real-time air quality displays in public spaces across the capital.

"My mum was a teacher in a nursery school under the West Way, and I sent my daughter there when I went back to work,” she explains. “Her health deteriorated to a point that she was hospitalised. Had I known that it was the motorway contributing to her physical demise, I would have pulled her out."

Her story, and that of fellow Londoner Elizabeth Wan, who describes her anxiety of raising children in a city where the air itself poses a health risk, anchors a new film from 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ's Grantham Institute, Inside Story: The Fight to Clean Up London's Air.

The film, the latest in the Grantham Institute’s Inside Story series, spotlights the work of 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ’s Environmental Research Group. It charts how decades of rigorous science have changed the way London understands, measures, and tackles air pollution; how research, community voices and policy action have transformed London’s air quality; and why the work is far from over.

A public health crisis

In the film, , Director of 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ’s Environmental Research Group, stands on Marylebone Road – one of the most polluted roads in London – with a hand-held air pollution monitor and explains that, “we are breathing in four times the health guidelines for PM2.5, and that’s because of all this traffic”.

And the impact of that invisible pollution on public health is huge. Poor air quality is linked to diseases like asthma, strokes, heart attacks, cancer and dementia, as well as low birth weight, stillbirths and miscarriages. , Children’s Lung Doctor and Co-Lead of Bart’s Children’s Environmental Health Clinic who is also featured in the film, says the clinical evidence is clear: children are uniquely vulnerable to air pollution, and the damage done in early life can last a lifetime.

"Children that live in areas of high air pollution when they are growing up never reach the full potential of their lung function, which means that in later life they are more likely to have conditions like worse asthma, and it impacts on their life expectancy as well,” she says.

Making the invisible visible

Over the past ten years, London’s air quality has improved dramatically. Central to that progress has been the development of a world-class monitoring infrastructure. The network of air quality monitors, including the original supersite on Marylebone Road, continuously measures how pollution levels shift, generating data that informs policy action. In recent years, that network has been dramatically expanded through initiatives like , deploying lower-cost sensors across the capital to increase the density of measurements.

The data generated by these monitoring networks has informed pioneering air quality policy – from the introduction of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to investment in cleaner public transport, restrictions on polluting construction practices, and improvements to building energy efficiency.

These policies have had a remarkable impact. “When the mayor of London got elected in 2016, experts told him it would take 193 years for us to clean London’s air to legal limits,” says , Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy. “We’ve achieved that in just 9 years. ULEZ is helping to transform the air that Londoners are breathing every single day”.

Progress, but the fight is not over

While London air is significantly cleaner that it was, the most deprived communities in London are disproportionately exposed to the highest levels of air pollution – a pattern that reflects and reinforces wider social and racial inequalities.

Professor Kelly also points to other emerging air quality challenges, like non-exhaust emissions from tyre and brake wear, and the still poorly understood risks of indoor air pollution. Addressing these issues, he says, will require further research and close collaboration with local communities. “We don’t have to just solve outdoor pollution, we have to improve people’s quality of breathing indoors as well,” he says.

Ultimately, improving air quality is one of the most immediate ways to protect health while also helping to tackle climate change.

Where to watch

As part of London Climate Action Week, the Grantham Institute and Clean Air Fund are hosting an event at the on 24 June, which will include a screening of the film and a discussion of the themes it raises.

The film is also being screened at several events during a new London-wide festival called . Taking place throughout June, the programme includes exhibitions in NHS and community venues, a digital art programme in hospitals and GP practices, and workshops for residents, schoolchildren, healthcare professionals and policymakers across London. It will be screened at:

• , 18 June, 10:00-16:00 at Tower Hamlets Town Hall
• , 18 June, 17:30-19:30
• , 27 June, 13:00-16:00 at Tower Hamlets Town Hall

Inside Story: The Fight to Clean Up London's Air is the latest in a series of films by 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ’s Grantham Institute, which all explore pivotal moments when science and innovation have informed effective climate action. Watch the full film, and browse the rest of , on our .

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